The Deep Sea is a still unknown world. At depths of 200-500 ft, scientists can discovery up to 14 new species per hour. It is rather amazing that in our technological and digital world, there is still so much that is unknown. The members of the California Academy of Sciences’ “twilight zone” deep-dive team go for five hour shifts under the depths of the ocean. The are lucky enough to have a submarine to explore the depths of the ocean between 200 and 500 feet, that’s properly called the mesophotic and known as ‘the twilight zone’. It is an area of underwater depths we still have so much to learn about and which requires many resources and even more bravery to do so. While on deep sea explorations, the team collects live animals, 4K video documentation, and more.The process is completed by using “rebreather” technology: ‘closed-loop systems that recycle the unused oxygen in your breath while removing exhaled CO2 via sodium-hydroxide-packed scrubbers’. This process enables longer dive times without the distraction of bubbles disturbing the marine life and allowing the divers to have warmer breather air, but it comes at a significant risk to the team. Brian Greene, a fish expert who sometimes dives with the Academy team, puts it this way: “There are maybe a dozen people on the f***ing planet doing what we’re doing, because it’s F***ing hard and people die.” The divers receive a balance off ‘a combination of oxygen and diluent—a mix of mostly helium and nitrogen that prevents the O2 from getting overly concentrated’. Coming up from the dives is an extremely slow process, involving four or more hours of decompression. This is an extraordinary process this team of amazing individuals goes through to gain ever important knowledge about the deep sea. MORE